Melittin Inhibits Hypoxia-Induced Vasculogenic Mimicry Formation and Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition through Suppression of HIF-1/Akt Pathway in Liver Cancer

Figure 2

Effect of melittin on hypoxia-induced VM formation of hepatoma cells. (a) Melittin inhibited hypoxia-induced VM formation. SMMC-7721, Huh7, and HepG2 hepatoma cells were seeded into Matrigel-coated wells with CoCl₂ (150 μM) or CoCl₂ + melittin and allowed to form tubular structures. Tubular structures were photographed 24 h later at 100 × magnification. (b) Western blot analysis of VM-related proteins.

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